Knights breeze past Indians in crosstown game

Turnovers and touchdowns. That was the scene on Sept. 6 as over 1,000 people watched the Knights storm past the Indians in the crosstown football game at Sleepy Eye Public School.

St. Mary’s 51,

Sleepy Eye Public 6

Turnovers and touchdowns.

That was the scene on Sept. 6 as over 1,000 people watched the Knights storm past the Indians in the crosstown football game at Sleepy Eye Public School.

The Indians turned the ball over seven times, with most of them taking place on their own side of the field.

“Most of our turnovers were self inflicted, not even forced which is frustrating,” Sleepy Eye Public Coach Cory Haala said. “I give St. Mary’s credit as they played well on defense and when [their] scoring drives only needed to be 30 yards, we made it a lot easier for their offense as well. They took advantage of our mistakes.”

The night began for the Knights at the end of the first quarter when the Indians were punting in their own end zone. The punt by sophomore Alex Bruggeman was blocked by his own teammate, which was then recovered by junior David Surprenant scoring the first touchdown for St. Mary’s. Junior Shawn Wensauer kicked in the extra point to make it 7-0.

The Knights scored 32 of their 51 points in the second quarter alone. It started with a pass from quarterback Brandon Helget to senior wide receiver Mike Fischer for 19 yards and a touchdown. This was after a reaching interception was made by junior Peyton Adams to give St. Mary’s the good field position. Wensauer’s kick attempt was good to make it 14-0. It was then junior Lucas Heiderscheidt, who recovered a fumble by Sleepy Eye Public, which set up the Knights next scoring play. A 17-yard run into the end zone was made by junior runningback Jaden Wait which gave St. Mary’s six more. Two minutes later, Heiderscheidt struck again as he recorded an interception leading to a five-yard rushing touchdown for senior Cole Reinarts, with Wensauer kicking in the extra point. The Knights scored again with about five minutes remaining in the first half on a screen pass from Helget to senior Andrew Steffl, who ran in to give St. Mary’s a 33-0 lead. The final scoring play in the second quarter for the Knights was a 14-yard run by freshman runningback Nathan Schroepfer. Wensauer then missed his second extra point attempt in a row.

The mistakes continued for the Indians in the second half, as it began with a fumbled kickoff. St. Mary’s took advantage of another good field position and had sophomore Jared Beltz run one yard for a touchdown. It was then freshman John Rosenhammer’s turn to try for an extra point, but it was blocked by Sleepy Eye Public’s defense.

The Indians were finally able to get on the scoreboard after junior Matt Berkner ran for 20 yards followed by a 20-yard pass to senior Austin Trebesch from quarterback Austin Fischer. Berkner took the ball again and was able to rush 13 yards for a touchdown. Sleepy Eye attempted a two-point conversion but failed, which brought the score to 45-6. The Knights attempted their own two-point conversion, after a final 9-yard touchdown run by Wensauer, but it was stopped by the Indians defense.

Helget went 6-for-9 for St. Mary’s with 90 yards passing and two touchdowns. Beltz had eight carries for 51 yards on the night for rushing, while senior John Brandl had two receptions for 41 yards to lead the Knights.

Sleepy Eye Public’s offense managed only 96 yards total on the night, and went 2-for-10 on third down conversions. Berkner led the offense with 39 rushing yards and the touchdown. Daniel Fischer had a sack and five total tackles to lead the defense.

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